The Lobo Lab

Systems Biology of Growth & Form

At the Lobo Lab we reverse engineer the mechanisms regulating biological growth and form with an integrated systems approach. We focus on understanding, controlling, and designing the dynamic regulation and signaling that control how organisms grow, metabolize their components, and coordinate the formation of patterns and shapes. We closely integrate new computational methods, mathematical models, and bioinformatics approaches with molecular assays at the bench. We seek a mechanistic understanding of development and regeneration, find therapies for cancer and other diseases, and streamline the application of systems and synthetic biology.

News

- Dhrithi Saamak joins the lab as an undergraduate research assistant. Welcome Dhrithi!

- Daniel delivers a keynote at the Great Lakes Bioinformatics Conference in Pittsburgh, PA, and an invited talk at the Maryland Spring Stem Cell Symposium.

- Kennedy Davis joins the lab as a graduate research assistant. Welcome Kennedy!

- New article explaining the dynamics and mechanisms of planarian growth and degrowth regulation published in Development. Check out the highlight, interview, and tree planted!


Planarian worms simulation

Systems Biology

We build quantitative mathematical models to understand, analyze, and predict the behavior of biological systems.

Computational AI methods

Computational Methods

We develop computational methods to simulate and infer dynamic models, discover novel elements, and find the best next experiments to test.

Planform

Ontologies and Databases

We create ontologies, curate databases, and develop expert systems used by both human scientists and artificial intelligence machines.

Planarian regeneration

Development and Regeneration

We study how shapes and patterns are formed from a single cell during development and restored through regeneration.

Cancer phenotypes

Cancer and other Diseases

We seek to understand why and how regulatory mechanisms go awry to produce cancer and other diseases.

Knockout metabolic network

Synthetic Biology

We design and optimize regulatory and metabolic networks with desired dynamics and behaviors to solve specific bioengineering problems.